to go hard with one
To prove a troublesome matter. "It will go hard with me before I give up the attempt," i.e. I won't give it up until I have tried every means to success, no matter how difficult, dangerous, or painful it may be.
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to go in for
To follow as a pursuit or occupation. To go the whole hog. See HOG.
to go in with good cards
To have good patronage; to have excellent grounds for expecting success.
To go into the Church
To take holy orders, or become an "ordained" clergyman.
to go it
To be fast, extravagant, headstrong in one's behaviour and habits. To go it blind is to act without stopping to deliberate. In poker, if a player chooses to "go it blind," he doubles the ante before looking at bis cards.
to go it blind
To enter upon some undertaking without sufficient forethought, inquiry, or preparation.
to go nap
To set oneself to make five tricks (all one can) in the game of Nap; hence, to risk all you have on some venture, to back it through thick and thin.
to go off the deep end
To get unnecessarily excited. To have it at my finger's end. See FINGER.
to go on the bust
To go on the spree; to paint the town red. A bust up is a violent quarrel, a row.
To go round Robin Hood's barn
To arrive at the right conclusion by very roundabout methods.
to go scot-free
To be let off payment; to escape punishment or reprimand, etc.
to go the whole eoon
An American equivalent of the English f'to go the whole hog." See HOG.
to go the whole hog
To dp the thing completely and thoroughly, without com- promise or reservation; to go the whole way. William Cowper says (Hypocrisy Detected, 1779) that the Moslem divines sought to ascertain which part of the hog was forbidden as food by the Prophet.
to go the whole shoot
To do all there is to do, go the whole hog, run through the gamut.
to go to grass
To succumb, give in. From the putting out of race-horses or hunters to grass when they are too old for racing or hunting.
to go to the basket
Old slang for to go to prison: referring to the dependence of the lowest grade of poor prisoners (those in the "Hole") for their sustenance upon what passers-by put in the basket for them.
to go to the dogs
To go to utter ruin, morally or materially; to become impover- ished.
to go under
To become ruined; to fail utterly, lose caste. Also to pass as, to be known as; as "He goes under the name of 'Mr. Taylor,5 but we all know he is really 'Herr Schneider.
to go west
Of persons, to die; of things, to be lost, rendered useless, never obtained, as My chance of promotion has gone west.
to go with a run
To go swimmingly; "with- out a hitch." A seaman's phrase. A rope goes with a run when it is let go entirely, instead of being slackened gradually.
to gouge
To squeeze out a man's eye with the thumb: a cruel practice used by the Bostonians in America.
to grant quarter
To spare the life of an enemy in your power. The origin of the phrase is not certain, but the old suggestion that it originated from an agreement anciently made between the Dutch and the Spaniards, that the ransom of a soldier should be the quarter of his pay, is not borne out. It is more likely due to the fact that the victor would have to provide his captive with temporary quarters.
to grease
To bribe. To grease a man in the fist; to bribe him. To grease a fat sow in the a-se; to give to a rich man. Greasy chin; a treat given to parish officers in part of commutation for a bastard: called also, Eating a child.
to grease one's palm
To give a bribe GreasYmy fist withatester or two, and ye shall find it in youT pennyworth.— QUARLES: The Virgin Widow, iv,l,p.4& ^;Youmustoyi it first. C.: I understand you— Greaze him i' the fist.
to grease the wheels
To make things run smoothly, pass off without a hitch; usually by the application of a little money.
To grin like a Cheshire cat
An old simile, popularized by Lewis Carroll : — "Please would you tell me," said Alice a little timidly, . . . "why your cat grins like that?" "It's a Cheshire cat," said the Duchess, "and that's why.'* — Alice in Wonderland (1865), ch. vi.
to grind
To have carnal knowledge of a woman.
to grind one down
To reduce the price asked; to lower wages.
to grubshite
To make foul or dirty.
to gun for someone
To set out deliberately to get a person and do him a mischief.
to hail a ship
To call to those on board. To hail an omnibus or a cab is to accost the driver in order to stop or hire the vehicle.
to hand in one's checks
To die. An American phrase derived from poker and such games, where checks is American for counters. When one handed them in one had finished, was "cleaned out." Also, to pass in, or cash, one's checks.
to hand round
To pass from one person to another in a regular series.
to hang a jury
To reduce them to disagree- ment so that they cannot bring in a verdict.
to hang about
To loaf, loiter. In America to hang around is more usual.
to hang by a thread
To be in a very pre- carious position. The allusion is to the sword of Damocles (tf .v.).
to hang by the wall
To hang up neglected- not to be made use of (Cymbeline, hi, 4).
to hang fire
To fail in an expected result. The allusion is to a gun or pistol which fails to go off.
to hang in the bell ropes
To have one's marriage postponed after the banns have been published at church.
to hang on
To cling to; to persevere; to be dependent on. To hang on by the eyelids is to maintain one's position only with the greatest difficulty or by the slightest of holds.
To hang the Up
To drop the under Kp in sullenness or contempt. Thus in Troilus and Cressida (iii, 1) Helen explains why her bro- ther Troilus is not abroad by saying, "He hangs the lip at something.
to have a cat doctored
A colloquialism for having a young tom-cat "cut," or cas- trated.
to have a date
To have an appointment, more particularly with someone of the opposite sex.
to have a down on
To have a grudge or spite against. To run a man down. See RUN.
to have a free hand
To be able to do as one thinks best without referring the matter to one's superiors; to be quite uncontrolled by outside influences.
to have a mind for it
To desire to possess it; to wish for it. Mind meaning desire, intention, .,. "T _. « ....
to have a sweet tooth
To be very fond of dainties and sweet things generally.
to have an eye to
To keep constantly in view; to act from motives of policy. See MAIN CHANCE.
to have and to hold
to marry and cherish someone
to have at heart
To cherish as a great hope or desire; to be earnestly set on.
to have bats in the belfry
To be crazy in the head, bats in this case being the nocturnal creatures.
to have entree
To have the right or privilege of admission. Entremets (on'trSma) are served between the roast and the dessert; in other words they are the sweet course, which in the U.S.A. is known as dessert.
to have good sea legs
To be a good sailor; to be able to stand the motion of the ship without getting sea sick.
to have had one's time
A British soldiers' expression in World War II for being ripe for death, to expect imminent disaster.
to have his fling
To sow his wild oats. The Scots have a proverb: — Let him tak' his fling and find oot his ain wecht (weight).
to have it out
To contest either physically or verbally with another to the utmost of one's
to have no bottom
To be unfathomable; to be unstable. To get to the bottom of the matter.
to have the cheek
To have the face or assurance. "He hadn't the cheek to ask for more.
to have the laugh of one
To be able to make merry at another's expense, generally to that other's surprise and confusion.
to have the pip
To be thoroughly "fed up,'* downhearted, and miserable. Prob- ably connected with the poultry disease which causes fowls to pine away.
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